Van Gogh's Chair Art Quilt

For this artsy quilt, we used the design Chair with Pipe by Van Gogh for the commercial size hoop (8" x 12") and the one-color design of Chair with Pipe by Van Gogh for the large (5" x 7") hoop.

The finished size of the quilt is about 23" x 25". However, this is an art quilt, so the size is not set in stone.

Click here to enlarge

You will need :

• embroidery threads according to the color card of the design (you MUST use the color card, which is a JPG file included with the design),
• medium-weight iron-on cut-away stabilizer,
• a piece of white quilting cotton fabric for the embroidery, large enough to be hooped,
• fabrics from your stash (it's best to select these after you have made the stitch-out),
• backing
• batting
• binding,
• #14 and #16 quilting needles
• quilting threads of matching colors,
• rotary cutter,
• quilter's ruler,
• scissors,
• a chalk pencil or removable fabric marker,
• iron.

Embroidery:

Stabilize the center of the white piece of fabric with medium-weight iron-on cut-away stabilizer. Hoop it tightly.

Print out the color card and select your threads according to the color card, (not by the screen of your machine or your embroidery software!)

Upload the embroidery file of Chair with Pipe by Van Gogh into the machine and embroider it.

After the embroidery is done, press the stitch-out and the fabric around it. Trim the fabric leaving 1/4" margins around the embroidery.

Making the Quilt Top:

Note: Seam allowance is 1/4". Press each seam immediately after you make it. Out of your stash, select fabrics matching the colors of the embroidery.

Out of gray fabric, cut a strip measuring 6" x 8 1/2". Out of green fabric, cut a strip measuring 2 1/2" x 8 1/2". Sew them together.

Align the fabric piece with the stitch-out so that the green strips extends the green wall and the grey strip extends the grey wall. Sew the piece to the stitch-out.

Trim the protruding edges of the fabric.

For the bottom, out of burgundy fabric, cut a piece measuring 8" x 8 1/2". Sew it to the bottom of the stitch-out.

At this stage your working piece will look like this:

Making the Right Border:

For the right border you will need a green strip measuring about 18" long and 8 1/2" wide, a salmon pink strip 4 1/2" x 11", and burgundy piece about 10" x 10".

Position the green strip along the right edge of the working piece.

Position the salmon pink strip so that it extends the line between the floor and the wall.

With a chalk pencil, mark this line on the green fabric.

Position the pink strip along the line. Note that the short sides of the pink strip protrude beyond the green strip.

Place the ruler along the edge of the pink strip and cut through the green strip.

This is what the cut edge of the green strip will look like.

Re-position the pink strip along the cut edge. Sew the green and pink strips together. Now trim the protruding edges of the pink strip.

Adjust the burgundy piece so it continues the line of the floor.

With a chalk pencil, draw this line on the pink strip.

Trim the pink strip, adding 1/4" seam allowance.

Sew the burgundy piece to the part. Trim the left edge, then sew it to the right edge of the central piece.

Making the Left Border:

For the left border you'll need a grey strip about 12" x 6", light fawn strip about 12" x 18", pink strip about 4 1/2" x 12" and burgundy piece about 8 1/2" x 10".

Cut the grey strip in half along the diagonal.

Position the gray triangle, face down, on the fawn strip, face up. Align the longest edge of the gray triangle with the edge of the fawn strip and 2" from the right edge of the fawn strip. Stitch in place. Open the tringle and press the seam.

Trim the fawn strip so it is even with the triangle (picture below).

Sew the pink strip to the lower edge of the fawn strip. Trim the right edge.

Trim the pink strip so that the lower edge of the working piece is square.

Sew the burgundy piece to the lower edge of the left border.

Align the left border so that the floor line on the embroidery is extended by the seam between the fawn and pink strips.

Sew the left border in place. Do not trim the edges.
You can leave the top as it is and proceed to quilting.

You can also add one-color embroidery to the top.

Quilting and Finishing:

Now place the backing on a flat surface (table) face down. Cover with batting. Spread your working piece over it.

Pin all layers together with 1" pins and start quilting. To quilt through the embroidery, you'll need a #16 quilting needle. We quilted through the embroidery with invisible (polyamide) thread in a freemotion style. Then we quilted some parts around the embroidery with a free motion stippling pattern, and the floors in tile pattern.

Also enhance the lines between the walls and walls and floors with straight lines in dark threads.

After the quilting is finished, press the work with heavy steam and square the work -- all corners should be 90 degrees and opposite sides should be of the same length.

Finish the raw edges with the binding.

Enjoy!

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